The Start Menu
If you click on the start button in the taskbar, the start menu appears. This is composed of various sections, which are identified in the following picture.
Red: Shortcuts to programs which are "pinned" (fixed) to the start menu, for easy access.
Blue: Shortcuts to frequently-accessed programs, for easy access.
Green: Menu to access all programs on the computer.
Yellow: Search box, which allows you to search for files and folders on your computer.
Pinned Programs
There are usually a couple of default programs in this section of the start menu (often Internet Explorer to access the internet, and Windows Mail to access e-mail), but programs can be added and removed as required.
To add a program to this section of the start menu, you need to find it (see below for locating programs via the "All Programs" menu), right-clicking on it, and selecting "Pin to Start Menu".
To remove a program from this section, right-click on it, and select "Unpin from Start Menu".
Frequently-Accessed Programs
Windows automatically populates this section with the programs that you use most frequently, so you don't usually need to do anything to customize it. If you do want to remove a program from this section, you can right-click on it, and select "Remove from this list".
All Programs
This menu is used to access all programs installed on the computer. When you select it, the shortcuts in the two sections of the start menu above it are replaced with a list of all installed programs.
The scroll bar on the right hand side of this section can be used to navigate through the entire list. In some cases, the programs are listed directly on the menu, but in other cases they're grouped into folder. Clicking on one of these folders will expand the menu to show all of the programs within that folder, as in the example below, where the Games folder has been expanded so that the Chess Titans program can be selected.
Any program in this menu can be started by clicking on it with the left mouse button.
Search
Sometimes it's difficult to locate a file or folder – we all forget where we saved them to, or even what we called them. If you type what you're searching for (you don't need to hit return, because Windows starts searching as you type), a list of all of the matching items will be displayed, like the one below. Windows will search not just for file names which match, but will also search for matching text within files.
As you can see, the results are divided into Programs, Favorites, Files and Communications (in this case, e-mails) which match the search term.
Other Start Menu Items
The right-hand side of the start menu contains a list of other useful items:
Personal folder: Opens the personal folder for whoever is currently logged on to the computer. The personal folder contains the user's files, including their documents, pictures, music etc.
Documents: Opens the Documents folder, which is an area within the personal folder for storing any type of document.
Pictures: Opens the Pictures folder, which is an area within the personal folder for storing pictures.
Music: Opens the Music folder, which is an area within the personal folder for storing music.
Games: Opens the Games folder, which contains the games installed on the computer.
Search: Opens a window which allows you to search for items on your computer using more advanced search options.
Recent Items: Opens a list of files that you've opened recently.
Computer: Opens a window where you can access the hardware that is currently connected to your computer (disk drives, printers, etc.).
Network: Opens a window where you can access the computers and devices on your network (we'll cover this in a later section).
Connect To: Opens a window where you can connect to a new network (we'll cover this in a later section).
Control Panel: Opens Control Panel, where you can customize the appearance and functionality of your computer, add or remove programs, set up network connections, and manage user accounts.
Default Programs : When you double click on a file to open it, Windows automatically determines which program to use based on the type of file (so, for example, it might use a program called Notepad to open a plain text file). This menu item opens a window which allows you to change the default program associated with each type of file.
Help and Support: Opens Windows Help and Support, which is an excellent source of information on Windows, and a good place to look for answers if you run into problems.
At the bottom of the start menu, there are also three buttons:
Power Button (left): Turns the computer off.
Lock Button (middle): Locks the computer, but doesn't turn it off. The password will need to be entered to unlock the computer before it can be used again.
Power Options Menu (right): Opens a menu which allows other options such as restarting the computer, switching user (changing to a different user account without logging off the current user) etc.
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